Everlane

Everlane launched in San Francisco in 2010 with a marketing premise it called radical transparency, which meant publishing the production cost breakdown for each item it sold alongside the retail price. The argument was that if a T-shirt cost $7.50 to produce and sell for $15, the customer could see what they were actually paying for, which would demonstrate that the brand was not extracting the margins that conventional retail requires when it marks up a $7 cost product to $45 at the register. The transparency claim generated significant press attention and a customer base that was specifically motivated by the ethics argument rather than purely by the product.

The collection is organized around quality basics designed to outlast trend cycles. Tees in multiple fabric weights and fits, denim in a range of silhouettes from narrow to wide, cashmere sweaters priced below the European brand equivalents by the manufacturing margin that direct-to-consumer eliminates, outerwear in technical fabrics for rain and cold, and the footwear and accessory categories that round out a wardrobe built around longevity rather than seasonal rotation. The aesthetic is clean without being minimal to the point of austerity, which makes the pieces adaptable across the professional and casual contexts that the Georgetown professional customer moves through.

The direct-to-consumer model that Everlane pioneered, starting online and adding physical stores later, allows the brand to price its products at margins that conventional retail, which requires enough markup to support real estate costs and wholesale intermediaries, cannot match. The Georgetown store at 3259 M Street represents the brand’s addition of physical retail to the model, which addressed the limitation that online shopping creates for the customer who wants to touch the fabric before buying a product whose tactile quality is one of its primary selling points.

The Georgetown store’s M Street position at the upper end of the commercial stretch, past the intersection with 33rd Street, puts it in the section of M Street that sees consistent local and visitor foot traffic without the maximum density of the lower M Street blocks closer to Key Bridge. The brand’s customer profile in Georgetown is the professional who has done the research on what Everlane offers, understands the brand’s product range, and wants to see the current season’s selection in person before deciding.

The cashmere category is worth specific mention: the sweaters are priced in the $100-$200 range, which is competitive with the mid-tier cashmere market and significantly below the European cashmere brands at equivalent fabric weight. For Georgetown customers who want cashmere that lasts more than one season without the investment a Scottish mill brand requires, the Everlane version is the practical alternative.

Hours run from 11am Monday through Friday and Sunday, with Saturday opening at 10am and closing at 8pm on the weekend days. Online ordering at everlane.com ships nationally with the free returns policy that the brand’s direct-to-consumer model enables.